These were on Diners, Drive In's and Dives a while back. They looked very interesting so we had to give it a whirl. I cooked the beets one day and refrigerated them until ready to use. The rest is less time consuming. I also made a Green Goddess Dressing from Allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/green-goddess-chive-dressing/detail.aspx because I didn't have all of the ingredients called for in this recipe. If you can find a bottle of it already made, I'm sure that's ok as well.

These were very good! I was actually surprised!!!

The full recipe is at the bottom. ENJOY!

Pan searing the beets in my very well seasoned cast iron pan.

toaster rolls, then beets, then red onion then the dressing

YUM!!!

Beet Sliders

Recipe courtesy Chuck Caplener and Jared Nuttall, co-owners of Gatsby's Diner, Sacramento, CA

Prep Time:

20 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

1 hr 5 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

16 to 18 sliders

Ingredients

• 5 quarts water
• 1/2 cup sea salt, plus a pinch
• 1 tablespoon dried dill
• 6 dried arbol chiles
• 1/4 cup coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
• 1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 tablespoons seasoning sauce (recommended: Maggi)
• 6 to 8 whole beets (depending on size)
• Olive oil
• Green Goddess Dressing, recipe follows
• Sliced red onions, for serving
• 16 to 18 slider buns, toasted

Directions

In a large stock pot, combine and the water, 1/2 cup sea salt, dill, chiles, coriander, caraway, carrots, celery, onions, seasoning sauce, and beets and bring to a boil. Boil on medium heat for about 1 hour.

Remove the beets and let cool, discarding the liquid. Once cooled, remove the skin from the beets with avegetable peeler. (Remember to wear gloves, as the beets will stain your hands as well as other surfaces.) Cut the beets into 1/4 to 3/8-inch slices. Place the beet slices, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of sea salt into a skillet over high heat and saute until glossy and tender, about 2 1/2 minutes on each side.

Remove the beets from the skillet and serve with shaved red onion and Green Goddess Dressing on a toasted slider bun.

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

Green Goddess Dressing:

• 1 bunch fresh tarragon, stemmed, finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, stemmed, finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper

Combine the herbs, green onions, buttermilk, lemon juice, and vinegar in a mixing bowl. Let macerate for 10 minutes. Add the sour cream and mayonnaise, and blend with an immersion blender until creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

PJ'S BBQ SAUCE!!!

Yesterday PJ made his own BBQ sauce! He's so proud of the GALLON of molasses that he bought. I'm so proud of him for actually USING that molasses!!!

He mixed everything in the house yet he cooked it using the burner on the side of our grill so he wouldn't heat up the house!

I'm very proud of him! And this BBQ Sauce actually tastes great!

PJ'S SPECIAL BBQ SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ketchup 2 cups tomato sauce 1 1/4 cups brown sugar 1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses 4 teaspoons hickory-flavored liquid smoke 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon celery seed 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, wine vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke and butter. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.
2.	Reduce heat to low, and simmer for up to 20 minutes. For thicker sauce, simmer longer, and for thinner, less time is needed. Sauce can also be thinned using a bit of water if necessary. Brush sauce onto any kind of meat during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Grilled Watermelon, Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad

Who knew that grilled watermelon would be so tasty!!! This is a watermelon salad recipe that Alyssa wanted to try. It's from my John Besh MY NEW ORLEANS COOKBOOK.

You marinate the watermelon in a Pepper Jelly vinaigrette...
then you grill the watermelon pieces...
Put it all together and you have a beautiful salad!

GRILLED WATERMELON, TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE SALAD

_{Yields 6 servings}

• 6 slices seedless watermelon, rind removed
• 2 T Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette ** see below for recipe
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 clove garlic,minced
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 sprig basil, chopped
• 2 C tomatoes, peeled (mixed colors of smaller varieties are best)
• 1/2 C fresh goats cheese
• 2 or 3 C young lettuces
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Fresh garden herbs such as chives, chive blossoms, chervil, parsley & dill

METHOD:

Marinate the watermelon in the Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette for several minutes before grilling over high heat. Grill each both sides of the watermelon for several minutes and remove.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, sugar and basil together with enough salt and pepper to tasted.

Toss the small tomatoes with the vinaigrette in the bowl and place on individual plates or a platter along with the grilled watermelon.

Crumble the goat cheese over the top of the tomatoes and watermelon. Toss the lettuces in the vinaigrette remaining in the small bowl and serve over the top of the salad.

Garnish with what ever fresh garden herbs that you have available.

PEPPER JELLY VINAIGRETTE

• 1/2 cup(s) pepper jelly
• 1/2 cup(s) red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon(s) sambal chile paste
• 1 1/2 cup(s) canola oil
• Salt, to taste

---

Directions

1. Put all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well mixed.

Killer Baja Chili Rellenos Mariscos

I made this for dinner last night. It was DELICIOUS!!! It's a bit time consuming but if you have your ingredients on hand, it's a snap.

Roast the poblano peppers until blackened
Saute the onions, then add the rice and spices

Saute the shrimp and scallops

Combine the seafood and the juices with the rice mixture.

Stuff the peppers, top with cheese and bake. YUM!!!

Killer Baja Chili Rellenos Mariscos (Roasted Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Seafood and Rice)

Ingredients

• 6 large, fresh poblano chiles (sometimes called "pasilla" chiles)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup long-grain white rice
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1 cup canned chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 pound fresh medium shrimp, shelled and deveined, tails removed
• 1/4 pound fresh scallops (if using large sea scallops, quarter them)
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
• 2 teaspoons fresh grated lime zest
• 2 medium sized fresh, red, ripe tomatoes, chopped, with juices
• 4 ounces cotija cheese (Mexican aged cow's milk cheese), crumbled (I substituted fat free cream cheese)
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, tough stems removed, leaves chopped (reserve a few whole sprigs with leaves intact for garnish)
• Grated Monterey Jack cheese, to taste

Directions

Broil or roast the chiles over a flame until skins blister, wrap in a tea towel or put in a paper grocery bag for 10 to 15 minutes to sweat the skins loose. Remove skins and open pepper on 1 side. Remove seeds but do not remove stems. Arrange the prepared chiles in a lightly oiled 9 by 13-inch glass nonstick baking dish.

Heat oil in a 10 to 12-inch skillet until hot. Add the onion and saute until translucent (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the rice and the cumin seeds. Toast the rice and cumin in the oil with the onions for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the chicken broth, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring the rice to a boil and cover tightly. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 18 minutes, or until rice is cooked, but still a little firm to the bite. Do not overcook the rice. When the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and let it cool slightly.

While the rice is cooking, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter starts tofoam, add the shrimp and the scallops and stir or toss to coat them with the butter. Keep the heat at medium-high and saute the seafood for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until just cooked through. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the lime juice. Toss to coat. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

After the rice has cooled a bit, put it in a large mixing bowl and fluff it with a fork. Add the shrimp and scallops, with the accumulated juices. Add the ground cumin, coriander seed, oregano, lime zest, chopped tomato with their juices, cotija cheese and chopped cilantro. Toss the mixture until thoroughly combined. Gently stuff the peppers with the rice and seafood mixture. Stuff them good and full! If there is any extra, let it spill over into the baking dish. Top the chiles with the Monterey Jack cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the chiles are heated through and the cheese on top is melted. Garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Alyssa's Masala Pizza

Alyssa asked us if one night a week we could have an international meal. Why not? So last night was India.

Alyssa made us a delicious dinner.

I'm calling it Alyssa's Masala Pizza.

It's a variation of an allrecipes.com recipe with a few of her changes. I don't like curry and I know that Masala Sauce is kind of curry based. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn't a curry flavor at all! This meal was thrown together in less than 5 minutes!! In less than 10 minutes the baking is complete. Start to finish in less than 15 minutes! That's my kind of meal!

ALYSSA'S MASALA PIZZA

INGREDIENTS:

pizza dough (we bought it from a Pizza place) * 1/3 - 1/2 of a 15 oz. jar of Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded 1/4 cup chopped cilantro Opt: sprinkle some Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) on top for crunch

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough into a circle and place on a baking stone. Or roll out to what ever shape the pan that you are using happens to be). Put a little EVOO on the pan to just glaze it. Spread the Masala Sauce on top, then add cheese and cilantro. Sprinkle Pepitas on top. Bake for 8-9 minutes until cheese is melted or crust is cooked. Let cool about 3 minutes before cutting into 8 pizza slices. * You can also use Boboli etc as the pizza crust.